In the cable and broadcast television industries a major source of revenue is the sale of advertising time or “ad spots”. Spots are sold at both national and local levels. In the cable industry, a major programmer, such as CNN and ESPN, includes ads in the signal it distributes to its cable service providers. The signal includes tone cues, or digital signal identifiers, to the provider's equipment and by business agreement, the cable providers can insert ad spots after the tone cues.
A direct broadcast distribution company, or satellite television provider, typically has the right to use the “ad spots”, which are reserved for the local cable company spot insert opportunities, for their own inserts. Many ad inserts are intended for viewing by a typical consumer, i.e. pay-per-view events being advertised to a viewer at home. However, there are many instances where the direct broadcast distributor has a specialized distribution agreement which cause the signals to be received and re-distributed by other entities such as restaurants, hotels, office buildings, commercial aircraft, passenger ships, multiple dwelling units, etc.
These specialized redistribution systems are directed to someone other than a typical residential consumer. And therefore, advertisements for an intended audience, such as pay-per-view events, are not accessible to the audience of the re-distribution system and the valuable ad spot is essentially going to waste. For example, a hotel guest, or a passenger on a cruise ship cannot actually purchase an impulse pay-per-view event advertised by the distributor, rendering the ad spot useless.